


12 hours in Leopold's castle

by Skye_La



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emma Being an Idiot, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Henry being a little shit, Pre-Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan, Present Tense, The Enchanted Forest, Time Travel, Young Evil Queen | Regina Mills, castles and shit, teenage henry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-30
Updated: 2015-09-30
Packaged: 2018-04-24 04:17:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4905199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skye_La/pseuds/Skye_La
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma and Henry are thrown back in time to an unknown castle. Emma, taken for a maid is sent to the queen's room and learns things about Regina's past that change their relationship forever.</p><p>-</p><p>“R-” she stops herself. If that’s Regina, she won’t know her. “I’m sorry, your majesty. I’m new, you’ll have to tell me what to do. Sorry about that” she adds, wishing she had watched Downton Abbey with Mary Margaret after all, at least then she might know how a maid is supposed to talk. Regina doesn’t look like the evil queen she has encountered before. She must be further back than all that, she figures. </p><p>She looks up and Emma’s heart freezes.</p><p>-</p><p>Oneshot, kind of in the future, post dark swan. No Hook, no Hood. Violence and rape are themes/discussed but don't actually occur in the story. Second ever fic in the present tense so feedback welcome =)<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	12 hours in Leopold's castle

“Ma look at this! It looks like the time turner from Harry Potter” Henry says as he bounds into the study. Emma glances up.

“Oh yeah” she replies and goes back to her phone. “I’ll be on call all Thursday but I can still be at the meeting” she says to Regina. Henry holds up the pendant and looks at his mothers sitting on opposite sofas, heads down, working. He sighs audibly. No response.

“Ma!”

“What?”

He holds it up again. She likes Harry Potter, she should be interested in this. He’s a little disappointed. She puts her phone down and turns to look at Henry’s trinket.

“Oh yeah it does. Are you gonna use it to do twice the amount of schoolwork?” she asks. Regina hums in amusement but doesn’t look up. “Where did you get it?” 

“John leant it to me”

“The lost boy?”

“Yeah”

“Where did he get it from?” Regina asks, looking up from her work to cock an eyebrow at them both.

“I don’t know” 

Regina watches him a moment longer before looking back at her ledger.

"Are you gonna work much later?" He asks "It’s already nine. I thought we could all watch a movie or something”

“Maybe later, kid” Emma says. It’s not a school night, Regina just might allow it and if Emma has to drive home a bit late it would only mean she’s more likely to sleep through baby tantrums at the loft. If she’s invited, obviously. She shakes her head a little, feeling guilty for the assumption. She had to work to keep her assumptions in check lately, Regina hasn’t been working too hard to disabuse her of the notion she was actually welcome in her home. She could make herself at home anywhere, but it was easier (and more dangerous) in some than others.

“The committee won’t be pleased about their budget cut” Regina says, seeming not to have heard either of them talking about a movie.

“Yeah well maintenance of the playground and infrastructure take precedence over-” Emma stops, sensing magic nearby “hey don’t mess with that!” 

Regina senses it too and looks up sharply. “Emma don’t-!” 

Too late, Emma had already reached out to stop Henry twisting the dial and magic leaps from her fingertips like an electric shock. Her vision blurs and her entire body feels thrown, twisted and flung through space and time. She lands heavily on a hard surface.

“I think I’m gonna barf” she says before she opens her eyes, hoping the world is no longer spinning when she does.

“What the fuck” Henry’s language shocks her

“Henry!” Her eyes snap open and she’s ready to reprimand him but she focuses on their surroundings and suddenly she doesn’t care so much about his swearing. There is no mistaking that they are in a castle.

“What the fuck” she repeats. Henry’s hand is on her shoulder.

“You ok?”

“Yeah, apart from having no idea where or...when we are” she climbs laboriously to her feet “I’m super”

The corridor they’re in is empty but the sconce torches are lit which must, she thinks, mean that this route is used a lot. They walk quickly and quietly until they find a door. She listens. Nothing. They sneak inside and it’s pitch dark. Henry switched on his phone torch and they see that it’s a store full of sheets, clothes, crates and big jars that Emma does not want to know any more about.

“What’s that noise?”

“It’s the time turner thing, it’s ticking now” He shines his light on the dial. “What do you think happened?"

"I would guess from the zap it gave me and the tone of Regina's voice that this thing needed a jumpstart of magic and I accidentally gave it one"

"Do you think it'll take us back?"

"Does it have PRNDL?"

"It's not funny Emma"

"I know" she sighs "it wasn't ticking before?"

"Nope"

"Does it have like a dial or hands or anything?"

He leans in closer to inspect. "It has a dial. It looks like it does a full turn every 12 hours. Maybe we only have 12 hours here and then it’ll take us back”

"Great!" _All we have to do is survive 12 hours in what's likely to be a very hostile environment._ "We have to hide for...someone’s coming” she backs into the corner between two shelves. Henry hides behind a drying rack before turning his torch off. The footsteps and voices pass the door and disappear again.

“Ok. We can do this for 12 hours right? You think you can hide in here?”

“I guess” his torch is on and flitting around the room again.

“I’ll have a look around, see if I can’t find a way out” Anything would be safer than being in an unknown castle at this point. She kisses him on the head and starts towards the door.

“Ma, you’re gonna want to change your clothes” she looks down at her jeans.

“Shit. Yeah”

He turns his torch to the piles of folded laundry.

-

Emma emerges in a long green skirt and white, long sleeved blouse breathing deliberately to keep herself calm. She walks down the corridor, the same way the voices went, hoping they lead outside. She strains to hear the slightest noise and treads quietly

“About bloody time!” She jumps as a fierce looking woman approaches from a hidden passage. “Oh, I thought you were Eliza. Where is she?” Emma shrugs. The woman marches away. After a moment to get over her shock Emma follows “Well you’ll have to do now, there’s no one else. There’s the water, take it up to her room.” 

“Uh, whose room?” 

“Gods be good, her majesty’s room! Take the back steps, second door at the top. You’re already late!”

 _So much for laying low. Please god don’t be Cora,_ she thinks. Though she wouldn’t recognise her she would definitely know something was up. When she gets to the door her arms are aching from the weight ornate jugs of the water she carries. She had wondered how she would get in if the door was a heavy oak one like the rest, but it is already ajar when she arrives.

“Majesty?” Emma asks quietly “Can- May I come in?” She corrected, thinking of a school teacher she had who when asked “can I use the bathroom” by a pupil would answer “I don’t know, can you?” in an attempt to embarrass children into using correct grammar. 

“Yes” Comes a voice. It’s not Cora, thank god.

She nudges the door open with her knee and enters, pushing it closed again with her foot. She sees a table by a mirror, sets the water down and tries to concentrate on her breathing again again.

“The bathwater might be too hot now, but you can pour it anyway and see” 

Emma turns to the speaker and almost leaps out of her skin. Regina is sitting on the side of her bed looking at the floor. She can only see part of her face, just the side of her eye really. Her dark hair tumbles down one shoulder and obscures the rest of her face.

“R-” she stops herself. If that’s Regina, she won’t know her. “I’m sorry, your majesty. I’m new, you’ll have to tell me what to do. Sorry about that” she adds, wishing she had watched Downton Abbey with Mary Margaret after all, at least then she might know how a maid is supposed to talk. Regina doesn’t look like the evil queen she has encountered before. She must be further back than all that, she figures.

She looks up and Emma’s heart freezes. Her eyes are red from crying, her lip is bleeding a little and there’s a bruise coming up beneath her eye. On the little skin she can see above the high neckline of her nightdress there are marks suggesting the bruising carries on far beyond that. Her eyes are dull as they register Emma for the first time.

“Oh, I thought you were Eliza” she says and points to a lever near the fireplace “Pull down for water, push up to make it stop”

Emma stares at her for a moment longer but Regina barely makes eye contact at all before her gaze drops back to the floor. 

She only just keeps it together by doing what she is told and focussing on how to move the water from the spout to the large copper tub before the fire. She manages to run the bath and it is extremely hot. She pours both jugs of water into it and tests the temperature. It’s still hot, but it might help her bruises. Regina approaches slowly, like she's on autopilot.

“Salts tonight I think” she points to a jar on a dresser surrounded by other bottles and pots. It looks a lot like Regina's dressing table in the mansion. Not that Emma should know, she's only been in Regina's room like twice and both times pretended not to find everything interesting and accidentally commit details like her dressing table setup to memory.

Emma takes a handful, looks up and Regina nods absently. She sprinkles the salts in the bath, puts the jar back, wipes her hands nervously on her skirt and looks back at Regina who frowns back.

“You _are_ new” she says in a tone that indicates she knows Emma has no idea what she is doing. Emma waits for something else. A dismissal, hopefully. “What’s your name?”

She thinks about using a fake one. She might epically fuck up the course of history, like last time. “Emma” she says, unable to think of anything in time.

“Emma, come here and undress me for my bath” she sounds impatient, more like actual Regina but the relief of hearing the woman she knows is short lived when she realises what she is supposed to do. She swallows and does as she is told. Regina is watching her with narrowed eyes now and her heart feels like it’s beating in her throat. She undoes the tie at her neckline and the one around her waist.

“Over your head?” she asks and Regina nods. _Of course, who needs modesty in this day and age?_

She lifts the dress and focuses intensely on the white silk, trying desperately not to look at the body underneath or the bruises that paint it like a canvas. Regina lifts her arms to let the dress go up and over her. Emma gasps when she sees the red raw skin around her neck that had been hidden by her hair. There are bite marks welts on her chest and shoulders too. Emma’s hopeful hypotheses that these are injuries from a recent accident are fading quickly.

Regina ignores the gasp and continues to scrutinize Emma’s every move. Emma stares open mouthed at her for a moment, eyes searching for a sign that she can help, do something, that the empathy she feels is recognised, wanted or accepted. But she receives no such encouragement from Regina and turns to hang the dress on the back of a chair. 

“You’re not from here” Regina says rather than asks. She shakes her head in reply. “Nor am I” The queen turns and steps towards the bath. There are deep purple and red marks across her shoulders and backside too. Emma’s hand flies to her mouth while Regina can’t see her. “Could you lend me a hand, Emma” She swallows the upset welling in her throat and goes to help.

She watches Regina’s face as she climbs into the bath slowly. It is hot and but she doesn’t complain. Emma holds her hand until she sits fully in the water, covered up to her chin with her hair dangling over the back of the tub.

“I assume you can braid hair?” 

“Yes” Emma replies, she was always good at braiding hair, she used to do it for lots of the girls in her homes.

“Good. Do something that will keep it off my face” 

She finds an ornate brush and comb set and brushes her hair out. She kind of smells like Regina but different. She doesn’t know what it is, but it’s rich and smells expensive. It’s familiar, like a word you can only half remember and she misses her for a moment. Regina takes her breath in sharply at times as she brushes. Emma wonders if there’s a part of her that isn’t beaten and bruised. She makes a loose french braid bun for her and puts the brushes back.

"You can stand over there. When I'm ready you can help me out and dress me for bed"

"Yes ma'am" Emma says without thinking about what she's saying. Really she’s thinking about how real-life Regina would get a kick out of her being ordered around like this. Then she notices the bruises from the corner of her eye and thinks maybe not. She can’t meddle. She can’t change anything. She can’t. But she’s going to anyway.

“Regin- I mean, your majesty. I think I can help with your injuries. I have magic”

Regina flinches and sits up. “No, magic only hurts people”

Emma stares at her in shock for moment. _Is she for real?_

“Not my magic. Mine is light. It’s good. It can heal” Regina’s eye bore into her but she says nothing. “It can’t be worse than this” Emma tries.

The queen laughs, though nothing is funny “Oh it has been, many a time. It’s a little worse today because I went riding without taking Snow and he-” she cuts herself off and glances at Emma suspiciously. “Fine, try it”

Emma drops to her knees by the bath and takes a moment to breathe. At first she had hoped Regina had just been in an accident, then when it became clear that it was an attack she had just assumed it was a one off but no, this was just her life. The king had done this to her. Snow’s father, and this was only “a little worse” than usual. She feels sick with disgust, crushed by empathy, torn between her responsibility to witness the horror that must be Regina’s life, and giving her privacy. 

She lets her hand fall to the water near Regina’s leg and tries desperately not to look at her body, to look for other injuries as if making a catalogue of injustices against her that someone has to pay for. She closes her eyes and thinks of Henry’s dorky laugh, of her mother’s acceptance, of moments on patrol with David when a song they both love comes on. She thinks of the first time Regina set a third place at her table, the time she fell asleep during a movie at the mansion and woke up wrapped in a blanket, the ease with which Regina’s smiles come when it is just them.

Regina hisses as the water fills up with light, turns reflective and opaque with it. Her eyes close, her brow wrinkles and hands curl over the sides of the tub. Emma feels magic pour and pour until it pushes back a little and she stops. She opens her eyes to watch Regina’s face. Her expression is torn between pleasure and pain. Her lip bleeds a little more as she bares her teeth. The water simmers back to normal and the transformation on Regina's skin is complete. 

After another moment Regina opens her eyes, sits up and up touches her skin. The bruises are gone. The faint scars, scabs and blood blisters that had collected over time have gone too. She stares at Emma wide eyed.

"I feel...ok"

Emma smiles brightly. "Awesome" she says before thinking. _Fucks sake._

"It is an awesome sight” Regina agrees “to be branded by violence one moment and untainted as a maid the next. Pardon my language" Emma has no idea what she is supposed to be pardoning so stays quiet. Regina’s eyes are still wide and go back to staring at Emma, searching her face for something. Some trick, some compensation she wants but there’s nothing there. “You’re not one of his are you?” she asks

“One of whose?” Emma asks

“The king’s. One of his...people” The word sets Emma on edge a little. She doesn’t mean people. She means something else. Given the little she now knows about Regina’s life she guesses ‘spies’ might be a better word. _That fucking bastard._

“No R-...ma’am, I’m not anything like that”

She wonders if Regina has enough power at this point to set someone on fire just by looking at them. The intensity of her gaze makes Emma feel like an ant under a magnifying glass on a hot day. There's something raw and vulnerable about how hard she searches her. She touches her lips and her fingers come away red with blood.

“Oh, I guess the water only healed what it was touching, sorry” Emma says sitting back her heels “Do you want me to try again?”

“No. It’s better this way. No awkward questions and he might leave me alone for a while if I look like this” she says. Emma’s heart clenches in her chest. _Do not kill your grandfather,_ is all she can think. _Don’t kill him, you'll fuck the future up somehow and probably end up not being born, do not do it._

Regina lifts herself out of the water “towels are over there”

Emma helps her dry, finding it easier not to look at her body now she isn’t an aria of brutality. Regina seems to take a long time, looking over her skin, touching where she had been sore and smiling to herself.

“I look like myself again. I have my body back” she says as she twirls her index finger in a circle at Emma to indicate she is holding her nightdress back to front.

“Sorry” Emma turns it around

Once Regina is dressed, she pulls back her own bed covers. “Ah yes. The maid usually uses a bed warmer”

A what?

Regina turns back to Emma who is looking around the room for whatever that is. “Nevermind. Would you stay a while longer?” Emma nods her head and then thinks of Henry in the store room and regrets it. “My last maid used to stay with me” she looks almost shy asking but there’s nothing else behind it. She looks so young. Emma wonders how she had gotten herself into this.

"Eliza?" 

"No" The tentative lightness in her face is gone "she was one of his"

"Oh" 

"You can sit there" she pulls back the sheet a little, indicating Emma should sit with her on the large bed. “I like what you've done to my hair. Very different"

"Oh thanks. It's just a French braid"

"What is Frensh?" Regina asks. _Fucks sake! Shut up, Emma!_

"French means it's from France"

"Is that where you're from?"

"Um" _it's the same realm..._ "kind of"

Regina thinks for a moment. Emma looks around the room. There's an orange glow from the fire but the room itself isn't too warm. There's a long narrow window with a leaded pane of glass. It looks drafty. Without the fire it would be freezing here.

"Who are you?" Regina asks

"What?" _Panic_

"Who are you?" Regina repeats, settling into her pillows on her side to look at Emma in the dying light "And what are you doing here? You're not one of his so you must just be a stand in for Eliza. Is she coming back?"

"Don't you get to decide who dresses you, R- ah, your majesty?" Emma tries to change the subject

"No I don't. You keep almost using my name." Regina’s questions have her pinned like a butterfly in a case. 

"I'm sorry" Emma looks down hoping Regina is in the extreme pre- of her pre-evil queen days.

"I could call the guards, or you could tell me what is going on. I'd rather know who you are. This is the longest conversation I've had with anyone but Snow in...well a long time"

"Please don't call the guards.” Emma can’t help but respond to the sadness in Regina’s voice with appeasement. Dangerous, stupid appeasement. “I ended up here by accident. I..." She isn't scared of Regina, she’s just scared "I have my son and he needs to go home" to you, we need to get back to you.

"What is stopping you?"

"I don't know the way. I'm worried we're trapped"

"Can I help?"

"If I'm still here this time tomorrow then yeah" she smiles, though it’s nothing to smile about "you can help"

Regina doesn't smile back exactly, but her eyes are soft. "Then I will. Though I hope you don't need it"

For a while they stay on the bed not talking. Emma always liked Regina's hair shorter, even when she hated her. Sometimes she also hated how difficult she made it to concentrate on being angry with her. Having her hair back kind of reminded her of it.

"Will you stay until I fall asleep? Without the bed warmer I'll never get to sleep otherwise"

"Yeah ok" she thought of Henry again. Regina blew out her bedside candle and Emma tucked her feet under the duvet.

"Tell me about your son"

So Emma did. She told her how he loved to read and that she thought he would be a writer some day. She told her funny stories but left out details like cars, iPods, the fact that she was his mother. Regina's laugh was good to hear. It didn't come easily but when it did it was genuine. Emma made herself comfortable, sliding further down the bed as time went on until they lay side by side. The last thing she remembered before falling asleep was telling a story of when Henry painted Regina's mansion walls with her nail varnish. One of the gems she gave Emma when she sent them to New York.

-

When Emma wakes her arms are tightly wrapped around Regina. Not just one carelessly thrown across her, there is one arm under her head, the other over her waist with Regina's fingers tangled with hers. She hums in confusion.

"Good morning" Regina says quietly "I didn't want to wake you" she lets Emma's hands go and sits up, stretching in the morning light. Emma can’t help but notice how young and bright she looks.

"I should go, I have to find Henry"

"Yes, of course. The maids take breakfast in the kitchen" she adds after Emma's stomach gives an impressive growl.

She listens to the chimes of a clock somewhere in the distance. There were 8. She doesn't have long to find Henry. She slides from the bed and makes for the door but stops before she opens it.

"Do you need anything?" Emma asks, unsure of why, but she does

"I'll manage without you, go and get your son. I hope you find your way home" she smiles. It’s sad and genuine.

Emma almost just turns to leave but another impulse takes over her. She marches up to where Regina sits at the edge of her bed and takes her hands.

"This is not going to be your life forever. You are strong and brave and good, Regina. You will have happiness"

Regina's eyes swim with tears. Emma pulls her to her feet and hugs her tightly. To her surprise, Regina hugs her back and for a moment, the ache in her chest is soothed. When she pulls back Regina smiles at her.

"Thank you. Take care of Henry"

It’s so typical that in another world where Henry doesn't even exist, Regina is telling her to look after him. She smiles back, squeezes her hands and leaves.

A few people catch her eye but she keeps walking quickly down the stone steps and corridors. At one point she ditches the skirt that she was wearing over her jeans. It's just too hot and they're leaving anyway. She approaches the store room but hears Henry's laugh coming from elsewhere before she gets there. The noise leads her to the wash room.

"Kid, we gotta go"

"Yeah I know"

"Can I help?" The guard talking to Henry asks. Something about him puts her on edge. It might be the way he leers at her. It might be his hand on Henry’s shoulder.

"No thanks, we've got it"

"Mom?"

The guard stands straighter and pulls out a dagger. 

"I think you should let me help you, sweetheart" he says, now grabbing a handful of Henry's shirt and pulling him off the bench.

"Put the knife down" Emma says calmly though she feels anything but.

"Persuade me" she feels sick to her stomach, ready to light-magic this guys ass into thin air, but what appears in her hand is a fireball. A distinctly Regina-esque fireball. The guard yelps before she moves again, drops Henry and runs. Another chime sounds. 

"It must be 9"

"Then we'd better hope this works"

They watch the dial tick down until it's almost ready. Emma keeps watching the entryways as Henry counts quietly. She holds his hand tight. In his other hand the time turner parts start to whir on Emma’s magic. She closes her eyes and thinks of home.

-

Emma feels less like she’s going to throw up this time. When the world stops spinning she hears multiple familiar voices saying hers and Henry’s names. She opens her eyes and they’re in Regina’s living room. Mary Margaret approaches her, David is going for Henry, Gold and Belle are there too, but not Regina. Emma hears her voice coming from the kitchen.

“Henry? Emma?”

She squeezes Mary Margaret’s arm before she manages to pull her into a hug “I’ll be back in a minute” she says before rushing from room. In the hall she meets Regina who smiles with relief.

“Are you ok?” She asks, slowing to meet her. 

Emma doesn’t slow. She collides with her, wraps her arms tight around her waist and lifts her off the ground. Regina laughs “It seems you are. Emma?” the smile in her voice falters when she doesn’t reply. 

Her eyes are closed and she hopes whatever confusing thing she feels for Regina right now, she understands. “Emma?” Regina asks quietly. She puts her down gently but they remain in each other’s arms. “What happened?” she asks, though from the slightly glassy look in her eyes she must have guessed. Emma holds her hands. She half expects Regina to pull away but she doesn't.

"I met you" Regina swallows, her eyes continue to dart between Emma's. "I don't know if you know this, but I need to say it out loud and I need you to believe every word" a crease of worry appears between Regina's eyes. "I have forgiven you for everything you ever did on purpose and by accident that hurt me. You are a good person with-" Regina looks away "look at me" Emma says fiercely and waits until she does "you're a good person and I feel lucky to be in your life. You're a great mother to our son. I couldn't have hoped for anything more than for him to end up with a mom who loves him like you do" Regina looks away again as tears escape her eyes. 

"Emma" she almost whispers

"I need you to know that." She still feels a burn in her chest that needs a release. Regina's hands are still in hers, _and that means something._ "And you are loved. More than I think you ever have been. More than you even know. You have a family here who loves you for who you are."

That's not how she meant to say it. It feels like a cop out. It's not a Jerry Maguire 'you complete me' moment but that's not them anyway. They swing between literal attempted murder and sacrificing everything they hold dear for each other and they don't really talk about that. About how much they do for each other, how much they care about each other. Emma gets it and there's no one to blame. They have both lost so much love from their lives it makes it harder every time to give it a chance. But she has seen Regina's past now, she has seen her strength in the face of abject misery. She is not a coward. She has to tell her.

"I know I do" Regina wipes her eyes delicately, _no, fucking regally,_ Emma thinks as she watches a charm bracelet Henry bought her slip down her wrist as she does. 

"And you know that you are? Loved?" Regina's eyes are so dark they seem to go on forever, she could get lost in them. They are set on Emma but no longer searching her, perhaps Regina is searching herself. "Do you know that Henry loves you? And that I love you?" 

Regina gives the smallest, barely perceptible nod. Emma's smile breaks all the tension between them. "Can I hug you again?" She asks and Regina smiles in answer. "Oh my god" Emma says, picking her up again. Regina laughs and she thinks if she knew how to do it she might fly. She's turning them around, breathing her in.

"Moms?"

"Henry!" 

She almost feels Regina's heart leap within her. She puts her down and Henry crashes into them both. 

"Did you tell her?" He asks with excitement, though it is muffled from somewhere between their shoulders.

"No" Regina says

"Sort of" Emma says

Henry pulls back and looks between them with glee. Neither of them are looking at him. They are staring at each other. 

"Tell me what?" Emma asks

Henry knows he should be in trouble. He should be grounded by now if living with Regina, or Emma should be changing the wifi password and threatening not to give it to him but they have almost forgotten he is there.

"Be brave, mom" Henry says before kissing Regina on the cheek and running back to the living room door.

"Henry are they-"

"Just a minute, grams. They're talking about serious stuff" The door closes again.

"Serious stuff?" Emma asks with a slightly raised eyebrow

"What did you mean by 'kind of'? Regina counters.  
_  
Emma Swan now is the time not to be a coward,_ she tells herself.

"Henry has been harassing me for forever to talk to you and I really haven't been able to come up with anything. I guess getting lost in other realms and having family crises are the kind of times you just find the words"

"Yes I suppose they are"  
_  
COME ON,_ she screams at herself internally. "What were you going to tell me?" she asks Regina instead. Silence. Regina is frowning at her own hands. Emma sees the young queen again.

“Henry has also been harassing me”

“That sneaky little bastard” Regina hums either in agreement or disapproval, it’s unclear which.

“And you’re right, it does seem to take something drastic for us to talk about...things”

“Like when you said you didn’t want to kill me?” Emma asks with a smile

“And you said we were friends” Regina confirms

“We are still friends, right?” she jokes nervously

“Emma will you shut up? I care about you a lot. I think our son might have risked losing you both to another time and place to get me to tell you that and I’d rather that didn’t happen again”

“You think he did that on purpose?” Emma asks, incredulous. Regina nods but doesn’t speak. “Fucking-”

“Emma” she warns

“Sorry, I just…” _He is going to get it when- wait…_ ”did you say you care about me?”

“Yes” Their hands are together again, she realises though she doesn’t know when it happened.

“Because I said that I loved you”

“Yes you did”

“You don’t have to say you love me too”

“I know that”

“Some people might consider it to be the polite thing though”

“Then for once I’m glad you put such little store by proper manners”

“Yeah I don’t, but you do”

“That’s true, I do”

“So…”

Regina takes a step towards Emma. She had only been playing, trying to get a rise out of her because it was familiar and comforting but now Regina is really fucking close and all pretence of cool confidence is gone. She would always be flustered by pretty girls and Regina was so pretty she couldn’t look at her for too long, like looking at the sun. 

“So, Miss Swan” she straightened Emma’s collar and she had to remember how to breathe normally “‘love’ is a very big word, one that I have not had much success with. Would you settle for ‘like’ for now?” Her hands now rest on Emma’s chest. Almost her shoulders, but still her chest. _Remember to breathe._

“You like me?”

“That’s what I said”

“Like, like me or like like me?” _A very important distinction._ Regina’s brow wrinkles.

“You have lost me. Translate into proper words?”

“Basically it comes down to, would you be upset if I kissed you?”

Regina’s expression softens and a smile begins to curl around her lips. “No I wouldn’t be upset about that”

“Cool” Emma says, stepping back letting Regina’s arms slide from her own “good to know” she turns to walk back into the living room. She doesn’t see it but she knows Regina’s expression has fallen into confusion and (hopefully) disappointment. She just gives it another second before turning to sweep Regina into her arms again “Just kidding”

“You fucking-”

Emma kisses away the insult, pleased she had elicited a rare swear word. She forgets about her joke, about the queen she had met, about her family in the next room. All she can think about is the feel of Regina’s lips on hers, the hand on her cheek and the smell of Regina’s perfume.

“I really like picking you up”

“I gathered” Regina says in what was probably meant to be slightly reprimanding tone, but the smile slips out in her voice. Emma’s face hurts from smiling 

“For reference, this is like like”

Regina smiles back. “I see. Then I like like you, and...where did you get this?” she asks, looking at her shirt more closely. Emma puts her down.

“From your castle”

“But it’s not mine?”

“No it’s a maid’s shirt I think”

“It smells like...my perfume” Regina’s eyebrow cocks in question

“It’s not what you think”

“No?” she had a dangerous look in her eyes.

“I can get rid of it”

“Don’t you dare.” 

Henry comes bursting through the door, no longer able to contain Snow and David.

“I want to hear the rest of that story later” Regina says quietly to Emma’s ear and her mouth goes dry in response. Snow leaps on her but she keeps her eyes on Regina, who hugs Henry while smiling back at her.


End file.
